Winners

Geoff Shannon (@Geoff_Shannon)

Johns Hopkins' Offense — I delved into the subject in more detail in my report following the Blue Jays’ 14-5 win over Michigan, but after three games Hopkins fans should like what they see from their new-look offense. Wells Stanwick is picking up the family mantle as a top DI quarterback, points are relatively evenly distributed so far and there’s a lot of motion in this offense. The team is averaging about 13 goals a game, a good clip for this particular high-scoring season. Princeton will be an interesting test Saturday. The Tigers defense allowed 10 goals against Hofstra, features two freshman poles and appears to be splitting goalies in the early 2014 goings. After the Tigers its Mt. St. Mary’s, UMBC and then Syracuse and Virginia, both of whom are still working out their defensive schemes. Fun road ahead for the Blue Jays.

Zach Babo (@ZachBabo)

Resiliency — It’s a familiar narrative in sports, but we tend to love to see a team bounce back and show some character and resiliency, and we got a bit of that this weekend. Princeton was down late against Hofstra and fought their way back for a win. While the effort fell short, Notre Dame took a bad start and pushed that game to its final play, and perhaps what I was most impressed with, Towson got a big win against a local rival Georgetown after they were destroyed by Loyola a few days prior. Not to beat them up too much, but that Tigers – Hounds game could have been demoralizing, and yet Towson put it behind them, looked to the next game, and gutted out a one-goal win. If you measure a man by how he responds to adversity, I’d say these guys grew in leaps and bounds this weekend.

John Jiloty (@jjiloty)

Penn State’s Shane Sturgis — Without the CAA AQ, Penn State needs every big win it can get this season to qualify for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. Notre Dame offered a huge chance for the Lions to bounce back from a tough Loyola loss, and they took advantage with an 8-7 win, led by Shane Sturgis’ five goals and one assist, against one of the best defensemen (Stephen O’Hara) and defenses in the country. With 14 goals in three games, Sturgis is already more than halfway to his 2013 goal total for a Lions team that many think has a shot at a deep postseason run.

Terry Foy (@TerenceFoy)

The ‘05 Army Lacrosse Seniors’ Mantra — It was “look to the man at your left, look to the man at your right, do your job, prevail.” That’s an incredibly powerful tool, and Capt. Erik Mineo explained last Friday night to the Furman, Army and Catholic U lacrosse teams how it applied during a 36-hour firefight in Afghanistan. You have to read more about the story and the event from Christian Swezey.

Casey Vock (@cvock)

Maryland’s freshman class — The top-ranked Terps’ freshman class is as advertised, as Matt Rambo (a team-leading 12 points) and Connor Cannizzaro (6G, 3A — only taking 11 shots) are leading the charge as outstanding first-year players for a powerful Maryland squad that ran over Syracuse this past weekend. To think that Colin Heacock is not yet back to full health and Tim Rotanz hasn’t even touched the field yet, this could turn out to be one of the best freshman classes we’ve ever seen. It is certainly a fun group to watch.

Losers

Geoff Shannon (@Geoff_Shannon)

Ivy League Doubters — The Old League finally joined the fray this past weekend, going a combined 4-3. Princeton, Yale and Cornell scored nice wins over quality opponents (Hofstra, St. John’s and Hobart, respectively), while Brown romped Quinnipiac 13-6. Penn suffered a ‘good loss,’ falling 9-6 to No. 1 Duke on the road. Harvard fell to UMass, but the Minutemen are shaping up to be the surprise power of 2013 so that might not look as bad once its in the rearview. Dartmouth’s 18-5 loss to UNC was disheartening, but says more about where that program finds itself than the league in general. More interesting, four of those programs turn right around and played a Tuesday contest. Ivy League, back in action.

Zach Babo (@ZachBabo)

Syracuse — I’m a little nervous about the Orange this year, particularly with all the hype going into the season, for a few reasons, though I’m not going to put TOO much emphasis on an ugly home loss to a really good team in February. But 2013 and 2014 Syracuse remind me a little too much of the 2012 to 2013 Baltimore Orioles in some ways. In 2012 for the O’s and ‘13 for Cuse, both squads didn’t have the most impressive rosters (compared to previous years or their competition) and weren’t expected to advance as far as they did (ALDS for the O’s, national-runner up for Cuse). The O’s and Orange found that success by getting surprising, uncharacteristic contributions out of some often overlooked players, and being ridiculously good in close games (Syracuse was 7-3 in games decided by one goal, and Baltimore was 29-9 in one run games). The teams had flaws (O’s starting pitching, Cuse’s face-offs), but with well-timed execution, and a bit of luck and grit, they gutted out great seasons. HOWEVER when those same weakness resurfaced the next year, for the O’s at least, it didn’t work out nearly as well (85-77, third in the AL East). I’m a little nervous that reality could come crashing down on ‘Cuse if they can’t solve their most glaring weakness at face-offs, and they can’t assume to come out on top as often in one-goal games.

This could all be an empty parallel and the Orange could go undefeated from here on out and win the title, and the Maryland game was just a bump in the road. But this face-off issue is starting to get pretty bad.

John Jiloty (@jjiloty)

Teams that haven’t figured out their face-off units yet — Maryland (Charlie Raffa), Yale (Dylan Levings), Duke (Brendan Fowler) and UMass (Joe Calvello) were among the teams that picked up big wins last weekend on the backs of dominant face-off performances. It’s clear that preseason face-off work for the draw-takers and their wingmen is critical to teams getting off to good starts.

Terry Foy (@TerenceFoy)

Early Season Shooters — You know how people say in football early season that defenses are ahead of offenses (with which I totally agree) and, similarly, some people say in lacrosse offenses are ahead of the defenses in the early season (of which I’m not as certain)? One nuance of that I don’t understand is how many goalies have ridiculous save percentages in the early going. Right now, 25 DI goalies are stopping 58% or better. In two weeks, that number will definitely be below 15, maybe closer to seven. If defenses get better as the season goes on, shouldn’t save percentages go up? And it’s not just a shooter scouting thing. First, that works both ways (goalies can scout shooters’ tendencies as much as the inverse, though yes, I acknowledge a goalie has to scout nine guys and shooters have to scout just one). And second, some of the guys with gaudy percentages are two- and three-year starters (Kelly, Burke, Oliveri, Amato); their numbers aren’t going to dip because there’s more film on them. Like I said, I don’t understand.

Casey Vock (@cvock)

The FO Violator — It’s one thing to find yourself matched up against a talented face-off guy like Joe Nardella from Rutgers or Kevin Massa from Bryant. But it’s another thing to get yourself in a hole with a series of early-start violations. That’s the situation Syracuse found itself in against Maryland in the second quarter as Cuse’s Chris Daddio had jumped three times by early in the second frame. I think this is the first time I’ve seen that happen in a way that became so problematic for a team, in this case Syracuse. Going against a very strong face-off specialist in Charlie Raffa, you got the sense that the Orange were immediately at a psychological disadvantage once they’d been called for two jumps. Daddio was obviously in a position in which he couldn’t jump, but likely knowing the consequences of losing to Raffa, he jumped three times in the second quarter and gave Maryland two EMO chances, which they converted on. That scary situation infected Syracuse across the field and amplified the Terps’ game. It was an incredible turn in a matchup that, through the first quarter, felt like it could be a slugfest. Instead, Syracuse became completely deflated, allowing an unthinkable ten goals in the second quarter. Two of those came from Raffa himself as the Orange were back on their heels and completely off their game in the face of the onslaught. We’ve seen dominant face-off performances and what they can do for a team, but this game showed how the still-new FO violation rules can compound that situation and really help the better face-off team gain momentum.